Incendium
by nerdcubedfan
Summary: She's always been afraid of fire but when the city burns, she will have to rise above it. John Blake/OC


**Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or The Dark Knight Trilogy. **

She blocks the punch that aimed for her shoulder and sweeps the legs out from under the thug. She had already taken down his two friends and the man was getting angry. She slides over to the other man when she hears him load a gun.

He hesitated and that was when she took her chance. After disarming the man, she sent an uppercut into his jaw and a kick into his stomach. The man collapses in a heap and she turns her attention to the other man. He lets out an angry roar and sends his fist towards her.

Predictable.

She blocks the punch and sends a kick into his shoulder. He fell on the ground and looks up at the woman. She smirks and lifts her foot. "Lights out, little man." She brings down her foot and slams it into his face.

She twists her neck as the adrenaline from the four on one fight rushes through her. Her neck snaps around when she heard chuckling. "Who's there?" She calls, green eyes narrowing behind her black mask. A man steps out of the shadows. He's unremarkable, apart from the tattoos that cover his neck and go under his shirt.

His chuckles stop but he smiles eerily at her, his dark eyes staring. "I did not realise that the Batman had associates." He tells her.

She scowls at him. "I am **not** his associate.**" **To be associatedwith Batman wouldn't be a good idea. The police already didn't like her.

"No matter. You will still burn with the others." He says.

"What?" She exclaims. What the hell did that mean?

"You will see soon enough. The fire rises, little one." With that, the man steps back into the shadows. She breaks into a sprint and goes after the man. He's fast. Faster than she is. He keeps off the streets and in the alleyways. The woman sprints after him and he turns. She follows and when she gets to the place where he turned down, she realises that the man is gone.

The alley is a dead end and the only way out was to get over the wall. The woman sighs and turns on her heel. There was no point going after him. She lets out a yawn as the cold night wind whips through her hair. She should be getting home. She has classes in the morning.

She turns and starts to head home when voices, coming from somewhere nearby, get her attention. "Well lookie what we got here boys, it's a little pig." She follows the voices and sees where they are coming from.

A group of five men, who look like average thugs, surround the police officer they are threatening. Two have guns, as far as she could see. The other seem like they are unarmed. She stays in the shadows, waiting to see what the police officer would do.

"This little piggy thought it was smart to come on our turf by himself. I think we should teach him a lesson boys." The tallest man, who she assumes is the leader, cracks his knuckles menacingly. The police officer steps back slightly.

"Look, I doubt you want to be taken for assaulting a police officer so why don't you just leave me alone." He says. The leader steps forward and grips the police officer's collar, lifting him to his toes. "Let go." The cop growls.

"I don't think you can make orders _pig_," The leader spits the last word. "We're going to fuck you up." The other men start to approach them and she steps out of the shadows when the police officer punches the man. There's a loud _crack_, a moment of silence and then all hell breaks loose.

She jumps in as the man nearest pulls out his gun. She sweeps out the legs from under him and slams her knee down on his nose. There's another loud _crack _before she moves onto the next man. She stumbles back as his fist connects with her jaw, letting out a cry of pain, but quickly blocks the next punch. She drives her fist into his chest and, as he stumbles back, she brings her knee up to her chest and strikes out her foot into the side of his knee.

There's a loud crunch and the man falls down with a cry. She lets out another sharp cry of pain as her ponytail is pulled and it yanks her backwards. She makes a mental note to put her hair up in a bun from now on. She slams her elbows back, attempting to hit the person as they pull her backwards.

"Son of a bitch." She growls as her elbow finally makes contact with the man's chest. He lets go of her hair in surprise and she takes the opportunity to whip around. She slams her fist into his chin. She does it again before sweeping his legs out from under him.

She rubs her jaw which is still sore from the punch. There would definitely be a bruise tomorrow. "The Black Cat." She looks up at the cop. The newspapers had given her the name because 'she brought bad luck to criminals'. She can't complain. It's a good name. "Well I wasn't expecting a rescue from Gotham's newest vigilante." The cop says.

"You've heard of me, I'm flattered." She smirks at him as she walks over to the gun, picks it up and unloads it. She tucks the clip into her belt and drops the gun. "You should be careful on the streets at night officer." She tells him.

The cop snorts. "You really think that? It's all common thugs now, not psychopaths wearing sacks on their head and spraying people with fear toxin."

She nods, considering the answer. "That's very true. I have to tell you, that was an impressive right hook. I think you broke his nose." She admits.

He smiles slightly. "You know, I'm meant to take you in now right?"

She narrows her eyes. "And are you?"

"Well, I can't if you disappear when I look away, now can I?" The cop asks. The Black Cat's smile grew.

"That's very true." She steps back into the shadows and calls back "Try not to get into any more trouble, officer."

"I'll try my best." He replies before the Black Cat steps out of his eyesight.

…

"Christ, how much stuff did they give you?" Selina says as her goddaughter, Nina, steps off the bus. She had gone to her first day of college and was currently holding a folder while the rest were stuffed in her bag.

"A lot." Nina replies as they walk back to the apartment together.

"Don't forget you have work as well." Selina adds as Nina groans.

"Ugh, don't remind me." She replies.

"You were the one who wanted a boring, monotonous job Nina." Selina replies as she opens the door of their apartment building.

"Ju-"Nina's reply is cut off at the sound of yells coming from upstairs. The pair exchanges a look before running up the stairs. A tall man has slammed a blonde girl up against the wall. He pushes his forearm against her throat as he growls "Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jenn chokes out as he presses his forearm further into her throat.

"My wallet you little bitch!" As the man shouts at Jenn, Selina grabs his arm and twists it, slamming him against the wall.

"She doesn't have it you ass. Now get out of here and don't let me see your face here again." Selina hisses. The man lets out a grunt of protest but Selina twists his arm further.

He lets out a cry of pain before he howls "Alright! Alright! I'll go." Selina lets go of his arm and he walks off but not before shooting a glare at the woman.

"Well that was pleasant." Nina remarks.

"Try to be a little more careful next time." Selina tells Jenn. "Did you even get his wallet?"

"Nope but I got his watch!" The blonde smiles as she shows Selina the silver watch. Nina smirks and Selina rolls her eyes before the three starts walking to the apartment.

"As I was saying," Nina says as Selina closes the front door and Jenn sits on the couch, "Some of us want to acquire money legally."

Selina scoffs. "Why? That's boring." Nina rolls her eyes and dumps her stuff on the table. "Why don't you come with me? I miss my sidekick." Selina ruffles Nina's hair jokingly and the girl swats her hand away.

"I was never your sidekick." Nina replies as she goes over to her room to change into her uniform.

"Even though I was The Cat and you were Catgirl?" Selina asks with a smirk.

"Oh shut up!" Nina replies as Selina lets out a bark of laughter. Nina closes the door and pulls out the black shirt and trousers that are her uniform. She pulls off her shirt and winces. Bruises had blossomed on her stomach and ribs. A bruise did appear on her jaw from the night before but she had covered that up with foundation. Nina pulls on her uniform before grabbing a bag and walks out of the room.

"I'm working till close tonight so I'll be home late." She tells her godmother. Selina nods before giving her a wave. Nina waves back and call "Bye Jenn!"

"See ya Nina." She replies from the couch. Nina leaves the apartment and starts to make her way to the dinner where she works. Nina groans as the rain starts to pour. She pulls off her jacket and holds it over her head before breaking out in a sprint towards the dinner.

Nina eventually makes it to the diner ad runs into the dry building. Carrie, one of the other waitresses, looks up from where she is pouring coffee and smirks at her. "Little wet outside?"

"What gave you that idea?" Nina replies, narrowing her eyes at her friend. She dumps her jacket under the counter and pulls on her apron.

"Section three today Nina!" Her boss, Daniel, calls from the kitchen. She nods and gets to work. It was the afternoon so things were quiet before the dinner rush. When she finally got a moment of peace, Nina walks behind the counter. "So how's Beth?" She asks Carrie.

"She ate a worm at her dad's yesterday." Carrie tells her with an annoyed look in her eyes.

Nina snorts with laughter as Carrie shots her an unimpressed look. "Sorry! Sorry, I'm not laughing." Nina says, covering her mouth to stifle the giggles.

"You laugh now, when you're a mother you'll understand!" Carrie exclaims just as the other waitress, Michelle, walks through the door. Nina's eyes widen in surprise when she sees that Michelle's long black hair had been completely shaved off.

"Wasn't expecting the new look 'chelle, but I think you make it work!" Nina tells her. Michelle gives her a smile that doesn't reach her eyes as Daniel walks out of the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Daniel but I do have a genuine excuse. My house got broken into last night and they completely destroyed the place. I got like two hours sleep last night." She tells him.

"Christ love, did anyone get hurt?" He asks.

"They beat up my brother. I had to take him to the hospital last night." Michelle explains. Nina's eyes widen.

"Is he okay?" Nina runs over and asks.

"Did you catch who did it?" Daniel asks.

Michelle shakes her head. "He refuses to talk about it. They broke his wrist and shaved 'FAG' onto his head. I shaved it off and he felt so self-conscious so I shaved my hair as well so he wouldn't feel like he stood out."

Daniel gasps and says "Oh God, I hope he's alright. Tell you what, take the day off to get everything sorted and I'll still pay you, alright?"

"No Dan, it's fine-" He cuts her off.

"It's fine Michelle. You go on. I hope he gets better."

"I hope he's okay Michelle." Nina tells her.

"Thank you so much!" Michelle exclaims before running out the door.

"That's so awful." Nina says. Daniel nods in agreement before Nina gets back to work.

…..

An hour later, Nina is clearing tables. She sets the last cup on the tray before turning and walking to go to the counter. Unfortunately, Nina wasn't paying attention. She slammed into someone and the tray dropped onto the floor, gathering the attention of everyone in the diner. Nina's cheeks flush.

"Oh my God I am so, so sorry. I'm such a klutz and I should have been paying attention. I'm really sorry!" She apologises as she crouches down and starts to clear things up.

"No, it's fine. I should have been watching where I was going." The man she bumped into apologises as he helps her. Nina's cheeks turn a darker shade of red. Not only did she embarrass herself, but she did it in front of a really good-looking guy! Nina can't help but think that she recognised him from somewhere.

The pair manages to pick up the broken cups and plates and Nina picks up the tray. "I'm really, really sorry about that but thanks for helping me." She apologises.

"Stop apologising, it's fine." He smiles at her. "I'm John by the way."

"I'm Nina." She replies.

"Makes sense." He replies.

"What does?" Nina asks as she raises her eyebrow.

"A pretty girl like you would have a pretty name." Nina bits her lip as she grins. Her cheeks flush again.

"Blake! Enough flirting, time to go!" Another man calls.

"I'll see you around Nina." He flashes her a grin before walking out. As soon as he turns, Carrie gives Nina a thumbs up. The smile on Nina's face falters slightly when she realises where she recognised the cop from. It was the cop from the night before!

She gets back to work and really hopes the cop didn't recognise her. But she can't help but hope that she sees him again.

…

**First TDKR fanfic! Hope you guys enjoy!**


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